Reading Eagle: Bill Uhrich |
Gary Lando of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices outside a Muhlenberg Township home that is up for sale. He says a tight housing market locally means buyers must make decisions quickly.

Jeffrey C. Hogue

Reading Eagle: Bill Uhrich |
Lando Gary Lando, of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, stands outside one of the most historic homes in Muhlenberg Township that is up for sale. Photo by Bill Uhrich 6/25/2019

Berks County area’s low housing inventory is forcing buyers to make decisions quickly

“You're lucky if you get a second trip back on a nice home. You better be ready to jump,” a local Realtor says.

Written by Karen L. Chandler

Berks County buyers may be forced to be quicker than those in other regions to pull the trigger on major real estate decisions because of a hot regional market.

And area house hunters have a low inventory of homes from which to choose that consists of less than half the usual number of options normally available, local Realtors say.

“With today's market if you have an interest, you can be forced to make a decision because of the market,” said Gary Lando, a Realtor for Berkshire Hathaway Home Services in Sinking Spring. “You're lucky if you get a second trip back on a nice home. You better be ready to jump.”

Jeffrey C. Hogue, a Realtor with Weichert Realtors Neighborhood One in Spring Township, said that homes in Berks County ranging from $155,000 to $250,000 are in particular demand.

He said: “That whole range is on fire for a good house in a good area.”

“You have dozens of people competing for the same type of property,” said Craig Stringer, owner/agent at Pagoda Realty & Property Management, Spring Township. “Interest rates have dropped, even bolstering the buyer frenzy.”

Daryl Tillman, a Realtor for RE/MAX of Reading, also in Spring Township, prefers the days when buyers had more time to think and process the major purchase of a new home, but confirms the low inventory in the region is making a relaxed timeline for local buyers' decision-making impossible.

Zolo study

New data from Zolo.ca, a real estate site where more than 6 million people start a home search every month, shows average North American home buyers may view an average of 19 homes and spend an average of 124 hours to find a home, a luxury that may not be available to Berks buyers.

Lando confirms that today's buyers can do some of the real estate legwork themselves to expedite their home search with research on sites such as Zillow and Realtor.com, but should not put too much stock in listed selling prices without having solid comparisons available to know the true value of homes in a desired area.

“It is more common for people to take a home search into their own hands quite a bit,” Hogue said.

And it is becoming increasingly necessary for buyers to seek approval for a second mortgage, according to Lando, so they can offer quickly on a home they like without the burden of having to sell a property first.

“One of the first questions we ask is: If they have to sell a house, do they pre-qualify for purchasing without selling?” Hogue said. “Today, mortgage applications for those median areas is a must.”

While the convenience of the internet and the lack of available homes may be reducing the time Berks house hunters spend on finding a home, younger prospective home buyers are actually spending more time than older adults, Lando said.

Slower process

Having limited experience in purchasing real estate and receiving advice from parents who may not have dabbled in the real estate market in decades can make decision-making a slower process for the younger shoppers.

Hogue agreed that younger buyers are slower to make a real estate decision.

“The millennial group tends to waver in thought because of the overload of information,” he said.

And seniors are just the opposite, according to Hogue.

“They've been down this road before,” he said.

Once in a home, Lando and Hogue agree the shorter the time the buyers view the property, the less likely they will make an offer because of an adverse condition that was hard to discern from listing information.

“People who have taken care of their home and keep it updated are reaping that benefit,” Lando said.

Hogue noted that first impressions are key to keeping a buyer interested in looking through a home.

He said: “The front door and door handle mean so much. The front door is the soul of the house.”

Clients in Hogue's experience who leave a home tour in five minutes or less are likely disinterested in the property, with shoppers who stay to look through the house for 15 minutes or more may be planning to make an offer.

'Ask more questions'

“Interested parties ask more questions and stay in the house longer,” Hogue said.

Jeff Martin, a Realtor at Century 21 Gold, Wyomissing, agrees it does not take buyers long to make a move on a home they like once one is finally located that fits their criteria.

“For buyers that are ready to make a decision, it takes them about five minutes or so,” he said. “But there's a lot that happened before that time comes along.”

And for those few buyers who try to speed the home search process and purchase a property sight unseen, Lando expresses his concerns.

“It's rare and it's dangerous,” Lando said. “If you're buying sight unseen, how do you know? There's going to be a problem.”

Hogue said that to truly expedite the process of buying a home, shoppers should devote time to choosing a good Realtor and not just search the internet.

“You get the right professional, and your chance of a successful transaction goes up exponentially,” he said. “You set up a competent path for success for a home sale.”